In 1885, Prussia dissolved the municipality of Neuhaus, while the area remained part of the Province of Hanover. However, in 1945 the area of the former municipality was annexed to Mecklenburg and thus became a part of the Soviet Occupation Zone due to lying on the right bank of the Elbe River, and thus along with the former County of Blankenburg and the municipality of Calvörde became one of a few small areas of the Province of Hanover (since 1946 Lower Saxony) that were part of East Germany from 1949 to 1990.
After German reunification in 1990, the municipalities that had once made up Neuhaus until 1885 quickly held a referendum to secede from Mecklenburg and return to Lower Saxony as a joined municipality in 1992, which out of reasons of tradition took up the old name of Amt Neuhaus, or "municipal office of Neuhaus". It is thus, together with neighbouring Wendischthun in Bleckede, the only part of former East Germany that is today part of a Land that during the Cold War belonged to West Germany.
History
In the course of the eastern colonisation the area of today's Amt Neuhaus became a part of the Duchy of Saxony. The area was named as the Land of Darzing, when the co-ruling Saxon dukes Albert II and his nephews Albert III, Eric I and John II partitioned Saxony into Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg before 20 September 1296.[3] The Land of Darzing was then a part of Saxe-Lauenburg, colloquially also called Lower Saxony.
A ducal castle, dat Nyehus (the new house) was first mentioned in 1369. The name of the castle became eponymous for Neuhaus upon Elbe, a component of today's Amt Neuhaus. It served the duchess dowagerCatherine (*1488 – 29 July 1563*, Neuhaus), widow of Magnus I, as residence until her death. Around 1600 Duke Francis II restored Neuhaus Castle. In 1616 the ducal residential castle in Lauenburg upon Elbe, started in 1180–1182 by Duke Bernard I, burnt down and Duke Francis II then used Neuhaus Castle as his residence.[4] On 23 May 1624 Francis' daughter Sophia Hedwig (Lauenburg upon Elbe, *24 May 1601 - 21 February 1660*, Glücksburg) married Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg in Neuhaus Castle.[5]
On his ascension in 1619 Duke Augustus, son of Francis II, moved Saxe-Lauenburg's capital from Neuhaus upon Elbe towards Ratzeburg, where it remained since.[6] Neuhaus Castle passed into the hands of Augustus' younger brother Francis Charles (*2 May 1594 - 30 November 1660*, Neuhaus) and his wife Agnes of Brandenburg (Berlin, *27 July 1584 - 16 March 1629*, Neuhaus), daughter of Elector John George.
After the French victory over the electorate the Neuhaus area became part of the ephemeral Kingdom of Westphalia in early 1810, forming part of its Lower Elbe département. When after the Great French War the bulk of Saxe-Lauenburg was separated from Hanover in 1815, the Neuhaus area, however, remained with Hanover, which had been elevated to Kingdom of Hanover the year before. After the Prussian annexation of Hanover Neuhaus became a part of the new Province of Hanover in 1866. At the introduction of Prussian style district administration in Hanover on 1 April 1885 Neuhaus area became part of the Bleckede district, merged into the District of Lüneburg on 1 October 1932.
Memorial for the houses of Vockfey demolished for the East German border control zone.
With the Allied occupation of Germany the situation changed again. The initial British occupation zone in Germany had no bridge between the bulk of the Hanover province south of the Elbe, and the Amt Neuhaus area north of the Elbe, so the British ceded the Neuhaus area to the state of Mecklenburg within the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany. Along with the rest of Mecklenburg, the area became part of the eastern German Democratic Republic in 1949. The East German control zone along the inner German border, sealed off since 1952, made the West and the Elbe banks inaccessible for the inhabitants of the Neuhaus area. Families considered to be living too close to the border were evacuated and their houses demolished, including part of the village Vockfey[de].
First ferry crossing the reopened border in the Elbe river on 16 November 1989 with East German border fences and watch towers in the background.
After the downfall of the communist regime in East Germany in 1989 (Die Wende) the first democratic municipal elections took place in May 1990. Today's municipality of Amt Neuhaus then still consisted of eight independent municipalities: Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus upon Elbe, Stapel, Sückau, Sumte and Tripkau. These became part of the reconstituted state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in October 1990. On 31 March 1992, the eight municipalities formed components of a new collective municipality of Amt Neuhaus. The eight newly-elected municipal councils each decided unanimously for a reintegration into the District of Lüneburg, which since 1946 had belonged to the West German state of Lower Saxony.
In an interstate treaty, both states agreed to separate Amt Neuhaus from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on 30 June 1993, when it was annexed to Lower Saxony. The treaty also included the historically Mecklenburgian village of Niendorf, which had belonged to Sumte since 1 January 1974, and the north-Elbian suburbs of the otherwise south-Elbian city of Bleckede, which were also reunited after their separation by the occupying British in 1945.
On 30 June the number of component municipalities of Amt Neuhaus shrank to six, before the remaining ones merged into the unitary municipality of the same name. With the Elbe bridge between Darchau and Neu Darchau a solid street connection between Amt Neuhaus and the rest of Lower Saxony is in the process being planned.[when?] In a referendum the inhabitants of Amt Neuhaus voted for a merger with the city of Bleckede on 7 June 2009. Bleckede, however, had not decided as of 2017.[update][7]
Coat of arms
The coat-or-arms combines the coats of arms of the Saxon and Saxe-Lauenburgian dukes of the House of Ascania, a barry of ten in sable and or with a crancelin bendwise, the Saxon horse of modern Lower Saxony (also used by the pre-1180 Duchy of Saxony) and an image of the former Neuhaus Castle.
Villages and localities in Amt Neuhaus
Half-timbered Lutheran Church in Tripkau.
The municipality comprises the following seven component localities: Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus upon Elbe, Stapel, Sumte and Tripkau. They include the following settlements and places: Banke, Bitter, Bohnenburg, Brandstade, Darchau, Dellien, Gosewerder, Gülstorf, Gülze, Gutitz, Haar, Herrenhof, Kaarßen, Klein Banratz, Konau, Krusendorf, Laake, Laave, Neu Garge, Neuhaus, Niendorf, Pinnau, Pommau, Preten, Privelack, Raffatz, Rassau, Rosien, Stapel, Stiepelse, Stixe, Strachau, Sückau, Sumte, Tripkau, Viehle, Vockfey[de], Wehningen[de], Wilkenstorf and Zeetze.
↑ Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 375. ISBN978-3-529-02606-5
↑ Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 383. ISBN978-3-529-02606-5
↑ Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 383. ISBN978-3-529-02606-5
Herzogtum Lauenburg is the southernmost Kreis, or district, officially called Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state of Lower Saxony, and the city state of Hamburg. The district of Herzogtum Lauenburg is named after the former Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg.
The Duchy of Saxony was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.
Albert I was a Duke of Saxony, Angria, and Westphalia; Lord of Nordalbingia; Count of Anhalt; and Prince-elector and Archmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire. Even though his grandfather Albert the Bear had held the Saxon dukedom between 1138 and 1142, this Albert is counted as the first.
The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, was a reichsfrei duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial center was in the modern district of Herzogtum Lauenburg and originally its eponymous capital was Lauenburg upon Elbe, though the capital moved to Ratzeburg in 1619.
The (second) Battle of Bornhöved took place on 22 July 1227 near Bornhöved in Holstein. Count Adolf IV of Schauenburg and Holstein — leading an army consisting of troops from the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, about 1000 Dithmarsians and combined troops of Holstein next to various Northern German nobles — defeated King Valdemar II of Denmark and the Welf Otto the Child.
Bleckede is a town in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, in northern Germany. It is situated mostly on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Lüneburg.
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity until their duchy was finally elevated to the Electorate of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356.
Frederick of Saxe-Lauenburg (1554–1586), was a cathedral canon at Strasbourg Minster, chorbishop at Cologne Cathedral and cathedral provost (Dompropst), a function including the presidency of the chapter, at Bremen Cathedral.
John I ruled as duke of Saxony from 1260 until 1282.
Albert II of Saxony was a son of Duke Albert I of Saxony and his third wife Helen of Brunswick and Lunenburg, a daughter of Otto the Child. He supported Rudolph I of Germany at his election as Roman king and became his son-in-law. After the death of their father Albert I in 1260 Albert II jointly ruled the Duchy of Saxony with his elder brother John I, and thereafter with the latter's sons.
Eric I of Saxe-Lauenburg (c.1280–1360) was a member of the House of Ascania who ruled as one of the dukes of Saxony from 1282 until 1338.
John II of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest son of John I of Saxony and Ingeborg Birgersdotter of Småland, a daughter or grandchild of Birger jarl. He ruled the Saxony jointly with his uncle Albert II and his brothers Albert III and Eric I, first fostered by Albert II until coming of age. In 1296, John II, his brothers, and their uncle divided Saxony into Saxe-Wittenberg, ruled by Albert II, and Saxe-Lauenburg, jointly ruled by the brothers between 1296 and 1303 and thereafter partitioned among them. John II then ruled the branch duchy of Saxe-Mölln, later extended to become Saxe-Bergedorf-Mölln. In 1314, he officiated as Saxon Prince-elector in an election of a German king.
Albert III (1281–1308) was a member of the House of Ascania who ruled as one of the dukes of Saxony from 1282 until his death.
Eric IV of Saxe-Lauenburg was a son of Eric II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Agnes of Holstein.
Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg was a member of the House of Ascania; son of Duke Eric IV of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sophia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Eric V and his brother John IV jointly succeeded their father in 1412 as dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. After John IV had died in 1414, Eric ruled alone.
Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg was a member of the House of Ascania and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from 1426 to 1463. His full title was Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia, however only ruling the branch duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1426 and 1463.
Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest child and only son of Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg and Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, daughter of Duke Henry IV the Elder of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel). Francis I succeeded his father in 1543 as duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, but resigned in favour of his major son Magnus II in 1571. Two years later he reascended and was succeeded by Francis II in 1581.
Magnus II of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest surviving son of Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sybille of Saxe-Freiberg, daughter of Duke Henry IV the Pious. In 1571 Magnus II ascended the throne after his father Francis I resigned due to indebtedness. Two years later Francis I, helped by his other son Francis (II), deposed Magnus II and re-ascended. Magnus' violent and judicial attempts to regain the duchy failed. In 1588 he was imprisoned for the remainder of his life.
Francis II of Saxe-Lauenburg, was the third son of Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sybille of Saxe-Freiberg, daughter of Duke Henry IV the Pious of Saxony. From 1581 on he ruled Saxe-Lauenburg as duke.
Augustus of Saxe-Lauenburg was Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1619 and 1656. He was a son of Duke Francis II and his first wife Margaret of Pomerania-Wolgast, daughter of Philip I, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Since Augustus survived all his sons he was succeeded by his half-brother Julius Henry.
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